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Friday, November 16, 2012

Educational and Racial Equity

When the Board adopted policy 0030, Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity, there was a bit of a stir because, at one point, the word "Racial" had been removed from the policy title. I guess some folks were concerned that if there was no reference to race in the title of the policy, there would be no focus on race in the implementation of the policy. The content of the policy was not in question, just the title.

The policy language does not put special emphasis on race. It makes reference to the opportunity gap, which is an economic disparity, and it lists a number of different types of equity the policy should protect:

"The concept of educational equity goes beyond formal equality—where all students are treated the same—to fostering a barrier-free environment where all students, regardless of their race, class or other personal characteristics such as creed, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, economic status, gender, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, pregnancy status, marital status, physical appearance, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability, have the opportunity to benefit equally."

I was a bit surprised by the exclusive focus on race in the initial report to the Board on the implementation of this policy. In particular, race was the only measure of diversity used when describing the District's workforce. The policy says:

"Workforce Equity—The district shall actively work to have the teacher and administrator workforce be balanced and reflect the diversity of the student body. The district shall recruit, employ, support and retain a workforce that includes racial, gender, and linguistic diversity, as well as culturally competent administrative, instructional and support personnel;"

Of the three measures of workforce diversity in the policy, racial, gender, and linguistic, only race appears in the report to the Board. While it might be tricky for the staff to enumerate the linguistic diversity of the staff, I think they could quickly and easily determine the gender diversity of the staff. And I think they should have done so. Not only because the policy requires it, but because I think it would have been illuminating.

When statistics show that Black students are disciplined four times as often as White students it is regarded as evidence of institutional racism and evidence of a lack of cultural competency in a predominantly White workforce. Yet, when male-identified students are disciplined TEN times as often as female-identified students, there is no equivalent recognition of this as evidence of institutionalized sexism or a lack of cultural competency in a predominantly female workforce. How is that? Are people quick to acknowledge a Black culture which is different from White culture but not as quick to acknowledge a male culture which is different from female culture? Teachers are encouraged to become culturally competent so that they do not unintentionally give or take offense and so they recognize behavior that may be outside their social norms but within the social norms of the student's culture. Surely male and female culture have differences along these lines. Surely that standard of cultural competence is needed - as evidenced by the number of boys disciplined by female teachers and administrators. Take a moment to consider how the social norms enforced in our schools more aligned with female culture than male culture, much as many argue they are more aligned with European-American culture than with African-American culture.

It's a funny thing, but other than the workforce analysis by race, there is no other data in this "report".

I suppose it's really an update on how the District staff intends to implement the policy, but even in that context it was pretty light.

They are supposed to develop a "racial equity analysis tool" and they have identified the seven groups who are going to provide input to the creation of that tool. That's all they have so far: a list of annointed stakeholders.

They have also identified the group of people who will form the Recruitment Team and has given the task of "crafting a plan and strategy to increase both the quality and diversity of teachers in Seattle Public Schools, specifically for our highest needs schools". Oddly, a lot of the people on the team are the same people who have had this task for years.

As with any number of other plans to plan, this one has a long list of inaction items:

I cannot be the only one to notice that there is no action in their action plan.

Here is their Professional Development plan:

"• Develop five Professional Development (PD) sessions• Develop and implement strategies and protocols for Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) within existing structures• Provide PD for school administrators•Provide Professional Development (PD) and a common framework for School staff and School Board members•Train Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to use the lens of race and equity in examining student performance data and student work•Provide race and equity PD for new hires"

Is there anything new here? Is there any reason to believe that any of these things will suddenly become effective?

And what does it mean to "to use the lens of race and equity in examining student performance data and student work?"

@SavvyVoter: Your summary is dead on. Poverty is a four letter word to ed reform. From some reason it's more acceptable to refer to someone by the color of their skin than to their income bracket. A lot of the data points to poverty and income as a major factor influencing success, but very few, if any of the ed reform policies even consider it. I wish I had a better explanation, but that's they way things are now.

For all of the Board's talk about how dreadful the policies are, you could read the entire set of policies in an afternoon. There aren't that many of them and they aren't that long.

If you do read them you will discover some amazing stuff.

First, most of the policies are crap. They are just meaningless jargon or aspirational statements which are unclear and entirely unenforceable.

Second, they are ALL unenforceable because no one enforces them.

Third, some of them are horribly bogged down in procedure. And not just the old ones. Take a look at the policy on Waivers for Basic Instructional Materials. That's not a policy; that's a procedure. A policy would only say that the Board sees value in the possibility of waivers and that the superintendent shall establish a procedure for them.

Fifth, you can find some real gems in there. There are some policies that will truly surprise you, like the Alternative Education policy and the School Family Partnerships Policy. They really make you wonder what the district would be like if those policies were followed.

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration